On one of our days in the Cuyabeno Reserve we visit
the local village Puerto Bolivar, where Siona people live. They farm, fish and
invite tourists to visit them. The village is neat and tidy with flush toilets,
running water, and recycling bins. Indeed, that seems to be the order of the
day all over Ecuador.
We are given a demonstration of how cassava (aka
tapioca or manioc) is planted, grown, harvested, grated, squeezed dry and made
into a large pancake-like bread that is then cooked over an open fire. From
ground to griddle!
We eat it with pineapple marmalade. Besides cassava,
the Siona people in this village grow chili, cacao, coffee, tree tomatoes (a
palm tree fruit), bananas, potatoes (there are dozens of varieties of potatoes
in Ecuador), beans, mangoes and papayas and have chickens.
